Here we go again.
Those words circled my brain as I watched the Giants dismantle the Pirates. Because of course they did. They're the Pirates. And these are the Giants.
And yet here are the Giants, 1-4 against the lowly Pirates, sitting at 57-57.
Sound familiar? Feel familiar? Look familiar? It should.
A year ago today the Giants began the day with a 57-57 record. Three years ago, 114 games into the season, they were 57-57. During the shortened 2020 season, when the Giants were 70% of the way through the season like they are right now, they were 21-21.
On August 6, 2019, you slipped out of bed in a pre-pandemic world and saw your Giants sitting at 56-57. And on August 6, 2018, the Giants were—you guessed it—57-57.
This is not an exercise to remember the jersey number of World Series champ Jonathan Sanchez.
It's to say that these Giants, despite a world of change at 24 Willie Mays Plaza in the last year, are bizarrely, hilariously, inexplicably the same as those Giants. It might not look the same, but it sure feels the same. And I'm ready to feel something new.
Up next: The Giants will try to win a series against the Pirates. No matter how it goes, the Giants will no longer be 57-57. The journey to 58-58 will have begun. Robbie Ray (9-5, 2.85 ERA) and Andrew Heaney (5-9, 4.89 ERA) square off at 9:35 am.